If there’s one thing I wish that I had learned sooner than later, it would be to respect the power of leaving out a kick drum or stopping the beat for at a key point in the phrase. If you haven’t seen White Stripes, check out the live videos for this song. TIP: Make sure to line up the floor tom and kick drum, and play with a little attitude. All of these are important lessons for beginners and pros alike. The kick and floor tom drive this song with simple downbeats, and the snare and cymbals outline the handful of phrases.
Basic drum beats for popular music how to#
Songs like “Seven Nation Army” are great for learning how to phrase and support a rock band. It’s a simple variation on the “boom smack,” starting with a boom wack on beats 1 and 2, followed by a boom boom smack on beats 3 and 4. TIP: This song is more toned down in terms of tempo, but it is high energy through dynamics and feel. MTV showed their videos everyday, and I loved the energy that Tré Cool brought to each song. Dookie came out right around the same time I started playing drum set. Green Day was one of my favorite bands growing up. I’ve always penciled in the tempo on my setlists when these tunes come up on a gig. The tempo needs to drive without feeling rushed. TIP: Be careful with the tempo on Creedence tunes. It’s crucial if you want to establish a groove. The pulse is pushed and pulled by the samba kick in the middle of the measure and the lack of kick drum at the end. It’s one of the money beat variations featured in this article. This song is what I call a pop samba groove because of the kick drum pattern. Lesson 4 of this article includes exercises to build the coordination. TIP: Hi hat slurps can easily become messy. The balance between the hi hat work and the power of the kick and snare are critical characteristics. Subtle playing goes a long way with grooves like Stan Lynch’s on this Tom Petty hit. Otherwise, you will have trouble knowing what to adjust to achieve a particular sound. You can use the bottom head to change the sound of the drum by tuning it higher or lower than the top.Do the same for the bottom head, and try to keep the bottom head close to the same pitch as the top.Tap the head near the tension rod to compare pitches and make adjustments until the head is close to the same pitch near each rod.Turn tension rods opposite each other following the pattern shown below.This ensures that the rods will start off pulling the head down over the bearing edge evenly. Get all of the tension rods finger tight.Follow these steps for tuning your drums. TIP: Since the drums resonate so much in the musical space, tuning is a key issue when it comes to enjoying this song. AC/DC’s “Back in Black” has so much space in it that the drums resonate more which means you need to play in time because you’re so exposed. Your timing is important when it comes to playing grooves with lots of space in the song, especially simple (yet amazing) songs like the ones. Plus, when you move your arms, you set yourself up for more ergonomic movement, which can lead to more powerful and consistent sounds. The sticks will be where they need to be if your arms are where they need to be. TIP: When you move around the drums, think about moving your arms more so than the sticks. This movement can be tough on consistency, and rock anthems like this one from Queen require drummers to play with strength. The following playlist follows this list of easy drum songs.Īlthough the rhythm is easy, this beat requires you to move playing surfaces from the toms to the snare quite often. If you are interested in a more in-depth explanation about drums, check out this article on the best drum fills. Most of these songs have a variety of drum fills, so listen for themes in the fills that you can learn them quicker. You will also notice that each song has a tip about technique or setup that could help you level up your drumming. In fact, many of the songs on the list are favorites for many listeners, and still inspire drummers to play drums like their heroes.Įach song is accompanied by the the basic notation and some commentary about how to approach playing along with the song. But this doesn’t mean that these songs are any lesser. So what better way to enjoy drumming than to play our favorite songs? For beginners, this can be challenging, but I think we have a list with something for everybody.Įasy drum songs are playable by beginners because the tempo isn’t too fast, the rhythms aren’t too complex, and the changes are simple. We play drums because it’s fun, and we’re inspired by great players.